Old English vocabulary and word building

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Old English vocabulary and word building

The full extent of the OE vocabulary is not known to present-day scholars. There is no doubt that many words have not been recorded in the extant texts at all. The evidence of the records has been supplemented from other sources: from the study of the words of closely related OG languages and from later, more extensive ME texts.

Modern estimates of the total vocabulary of OE range from about thirty thousand words to almost one hundred thousand, -- the latter figure being probably too high and unrealistic. Even the lowest estimates show that OE had already developed about as many words as used by a present-day cultured English speaker. Despite the gaps in the accessible data, philological studies in the last centuries have given us a fairly complete outline of the OE vocabulary as regards its etymology, word structure, word building and stylistic differentiation. The surviving vocabulary of Old English (OE) is relatively small. The Thesaurus of Old English (TOE), with which you will be working, contains almost 34,000 different word forms, whereas a modern desk dictionary might contain 80,000. Some of these words have more than one meaning, i.e. they are polysemous: TOE contains just over 50,000 meanings altogether. An example of multiple meaning or polysemy is OE ecg, pronounced in the same way as its Modern English (Mod. E.) descendant `edge'. In addition to meaning `edge', it also means `blade', the part of an object that has a sharp edge, and `sword', an object distinguished by having a sharp edge or blade. This is an example of metonymy, the identification of an object by one of its attributes, as when the Prime Minister is referred to as `Edge' in Mod. E. also has a metaphorical sense, where an abstract idea is conveyed by referring to something concrete, as in `her voice had an edge to it'.

Much of the vocabulary of Mod. derives from OE. This applies particularly to our core vocabulary: common words in everyday use for fundamental concepts. Examples include the natural world (earth, sea, wind, fire, water; sun, moon, star); people (man, woman, child, father, mother, brother, daughter); the body (hand, arm, elbow, finger, foot, nose, mouth); and other basic concepts such as food, drink; heaven, hell; friend, neighbour; love, good, evil; hot, cold; after, over, under. However, not all words which look alike necessarily refer to the same thing such misleading words are often called false friends. An example pair is OE bзor Mod. E. beer. Although both refer to alcoholic drinks, the nature of the drink is quite different. The examples above are all typical of OE words in being one or two syllables in length. Where there are two syllables, the stress is on the first. Initial stress is a characteristic feature of the Germanic languages as a group and remains the most common type of word structure in Mod. E. We have also retained from OE many of the ways of making new words, but at the same time English has borrowed numerous words from other languages, notably French and Latin. Thousands of French words were brought into English after the Norman Conquest of 1066, which ended the rule of the Anglo-Saxon kings and introduced considerable social change. New words occur especially in fields where Norman influence was strongest, such as Law, Literature and Fashion. These loan words from other languages often exhibit different stress patterns from the basic Germanic vocabulary, as with anatomy and cagoule from French, armada and potato from Spanish, kamikaze from Japanese, anathema from Greek and flamingo from Portuguese. Compound. New words are often formed in Mod. E. By combining two existing words to form a compound, as in aircraft, hatchback, motorway and raincoat. Such words are more specific in their meanings than the words they combine.

This practice is even more characteristic of OE, where a high proportion of the vocabulary, particularly the vocabulary of poetry, comprises compounds. For instance, OE s? `sea' combines with OE mann `man' to give a compound s?mann `sailor'. The same first element combines with OE dзor `animal' to give s?dзor `sea creature'. It also combines with OE rima `rim' to give s?rima `coast', and with OE faru `journey' to give s?faru `voyage'. You can often work out what a word means by breaking it down into its constituent parts.

Survive

Many of the surviving OE words occur very rarely, or only in specialised contexts. These are marked in TOE by four superscript flags, g, o, p, q.

- g indicates words which occur only as translations of foreign words, usually Latin.

Such translations are sometimes written in a manuscript and sometimes occur in bilingual wordlists or glossaries.

- o indicates words which occur very rarely, often only once.

- p indicates words which occur only in poetry.

- q indicates words about whose very existence we are doubtful, perhaps because they occur in a manuscript which is difficult to read or has been altered in some way. Searches can be made in TOE on the g, o and p flags. If a large number of words in a field have g or o flags, then either it is a field with a lot of specialized vocabulary or one that was not much written about. A lot of p flags, as in sections such as Warfare or Emotions, indicate that the subject commonly occurs in poetry. Poetry was an important literary form in Anglo-Saxon culture. Its structure was based on half lines linked by alternative sounds, which is one reason why it was advantageous for poets to have groups of synonyms beginning with different letters. Some of the editorial discussions of difficult words in TOE are recorded in the View Comments section at the foot of the screen.

Where we reconstruct an Old English word that has never actually been found, it is preceded by an asterisk. There are no such words in the database, but they may occur in discussions. Metathesis The transposition of sounds within a word is known as `metathesis', and it affects a small but distinctive group of Mod. E. Words derived from OE. Examples include beorht `bright', brid `young bird', gжrs `grass', юerscold `threshold', юrоtig `thirty', юurh `through' and wжps `wasp'. Latin words entered the English language at different stages of OE history. Chronologically they can be devided into several layers. The earliest layer comprises words which the WG tribes brought from the continent when they came to settle in Britain. Contact with the Roman civilization began a long time before the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Early OE borrowings from Latin indicate the new things and concepts which the Teutons had learnt from the Romans. They pertain to war, trade, agriculture, building and home life. Among the Latin loan-words adopted in Britain were some place-names made of Latin and Germanic components, e.g. Portsmouth, Greenport, Greenwich. The next period of Latin influence on the OE vocabulary began with the introduction of Christianity in the late 6th c. And lasted to the end OE. Numerous Latin words which found their way into the English language during these five hundred years clearly fall into two main groups:

1. words pertaining to religion

2. words connected with learning.

The Latin impact on the OE vocabulary was not restricted to borrowing of words. There were also other aspects of influence. The most important of them is the appearance of the so-called “translation-loans” - words and phrases created on the pattern of Latin words as their literal translations. The earliest instances of translation-loans are names of the days of the week found not only in OE but also in other Old Germanic languages. OE Mфnan-dїз (Monday) `day of the moon', L Lunae die

OE employed ways of word-formation: derivation and word-composition.

Word-derivation

Derived words in OE were built with the help of affixes: prefixes and suffixes; in addition to these principal means of derivation, words were distinguished with the help of sound interchanges and word stress.

Sound interchanges

The earliest source of root-vowel interchanges employed in OE word-building was ablaut or vowel gradation inherited from PG and IE. Ablaut was used in OE as a distinctive feature between verbs and nouns and also between verbs derived from a single root. The gradation series were similar to those employed in the strong verbs: rоdan v - rвd n [i:~a:], NE ride, raid. Many vowel interchanges arose due to palatal mutation; the element [i/j] in the derivational suffix caused the mutation of the root-vowel; the same root without the suffix retained the original non-mutated vowel, e.g.:

a) Nouns and verbs: fфd - fзdan (NE food - feed)

b) Adjectives and verbs: full - fyllan (NE full - fill)

c) Nouns and adjectives: long - lenзюu (NE long, length).

Word stress

The role of word accentuation in OE word-building was not great. Like sound interchanges, the shifting of word stress helped to differentiate between some parts of speech being used together with other means. The verb had unaccented prefixes while the corresponding nouns had stressed prefixes, so that the position of stress served as an additional distinctive feature between them.

Prefixation

Genetically, some OE prefixes go back to IE prototypes, e.g. OE un-, a negative prefix. Many more prefixes sprang in PG and OE from prepositions and adverbs, e.g. mis-, be-, ofer-. Prefixes were widely used with verbs but were far less productive with other parts of speech. The most frequent and probably the most productive OE prefixes were: в-, be-, for-, fore-, зe-, ofer-, un-.

The prefix modified the lexical meaning of the word, usually without changing its reference to a part of speech, e.g. spзdiз - unspзdiз. Some prefixes, both verbal and nominal, gave a more special sense to the word and changed its meaning very considerably, e.g.: weorрan - for-weorрan v, forwyrр n (become, perish, destruction). Some prefixes had a very weak of general meaning bordering on grammatical, e.g. зe-, the commonest verb orefix, conveyed the meaning of result or completion and was therefore often used as a marker of the Past Participle - sittan - зe-sett.

Suffixation

Suffixation was by far the most productive means of word derivation in OE. Suffixes not only modified the lexical meaning of the word but could refer it to another part of speech. Suffixes were mostly applied in forming nouns and adjectives, seldom - in forming verbs.

Etymologically OE suffixes can be traced to several sources: old stem-suffixes, which had lost their productivity, but could still be distinguished in some words as dead or non-productive suffixes; derivational suffixes proper inherited from PIE and PG; new suffixes which developed from root-morphemes in Late PG and OE in the course of morphological simplification of the word. The old stem-suffixes cannot be regarded as means of derivation in OE. Their application in word derivation can be best shown in reconstructed, pre-written forms of weak verbs. Weak verbs of Class I were originally derived from nominal or verbal roots with the help of the stem-forming suffix -i/j-, e.g. tжl-i-an, mфt-i-an, OE tellan, mзtan - from the roots of OE talu, зe-mot; verbs of Class II were formed with the help of the most productive stem-suffix -ф-, or -фj-, e.g.: hop-ф-jan, luf-ф-jan, OE hopian, lufian from corresponding nouns hopa, lufu. Suffixes are usually classified according to the part of speech which they can form. In OE there were two large groups of suffixes: suffixes of nouns and suffixes of adjectives.

Noun suffixes are divided into suffixes of “agent nouns” (“nomina agentis”) and those of abstract nouns. Among the suffixes of “agent nouns” there were some dead, unproductive suffixes, e.g.: -a, as in the Masc. A-stem hunta; -end, originally the suffix of the Present Participle, e.g. OE fоend. Later it was replaced by -ere. OE agent nouns in -ere were derived from nouns and verbs: bфcere, fiscere. The nouns in -ere were Masc.; the corresponding suffix of Fem. Nouns -estre was less common: spinnestre. Among suffixes of abstract nouns we can trace a productive suffix -nes/-nis: blindnis, beorhtnes. Another productive suffix, -ung/-ing, was used to build abstract nouns from verbs, e.g. earnian - earnung (NE earn, earning). A most important feature of OE suffixation is the growth of new suffixes from root-morphemes. To this group belong OE -dфm, -hвd, -lвc and some others, e.g. frзodфm (NE freedom), cоldhвd (NE childhood), wedlвc (NE wedlock). Adjectives were usually derived from nouns, rarely from verb stems or other adjectives. The most productive suffixes were -iз, an -isc, e.g. mфdiз `proud'(from mфd NE mood); mennisc `human' (from man with the root-vowel [a]).

OE employed ways of word-formation: derivation and word-composition.

Word-derivation

Derived words in OE were built with the help of affixes: prefixes and suffixes; in addition to these principal means of derivation, words were distinguished with the help of sound interchanges and word stress.

Sound interchanges old english vocabulary etymology

The earliest source of root-vowel interchanges employed in OE word-building was ablaut or vowel gradation inherited from PG and IE. Ablaut was used in OE as a distinctive feature between verbs and nouns and also between verbs derived from a single root. The gradation series were similar to those employed in the strong verbs: rоdan v - rвd n [i:~a:], NE ride, raid.

Many vowel interchanges arose due to palatal mutation; the element [i/j] in the derivational suffix caused the mutation of the root-vowel; the same root without the suffix retained the original non-mutated vowel, e.g.:

a) nouns and verbs: fфd - fзdan (NE food - feed)

b) adjectives and verbs: full - fyllan (NE full - fill)

c) nouns and adjectives: long - lenзюu (NE long, length).

Word stress

The role of word accentuation in OE word-building was not great. Like sound interchanges, the shifting of word stress helped to differentiate between some parts of speech being used together with other means. The verb had unaccented prefixes while the corresponding nouns had stressed prefixes, so that the position of stress served as an additional distinctive feature between them.

Prefixation

Genetically, some OE prefixes go back to IE prototypes, e.g. OE un-, a negative prefix. Many more prefixes sprang in PG and OE from prepositions and adverbs, e.g. mis-, be-, ofer-. Prefixes were widely used with verbs but were far less productive with other parts of speech. The most frequent and probably the most productive OE prefixes were: в-, be-, for-, fore-, зe-, ofer-, un-. The prefix modified the lexical meaning of the word, usually without changing its reference to a part of speech, e.g. spзdiз - unspзdiз. Some prefixes, both verbal and nominal, gave a more special sense to the word and changed its meaning very considerably, e.g.: weorрan - for-weorрan v, forwyrр n (become, perish, destruction). Some prefixes had a very weak of general meaning bordering on grammatical, e.g. зe-, the commonest verb orefix, conveyed the meaning of result or completion and was therefore often used as a marker of the Past Participle - sittan - зe-sett.

Suffixation

Suffixation was by far the most productive means of word derivation in OE.

Suffixes not only modified the lexical meaning of the word but could refer it to another part of speech.

Suffixes were mostly applied in forming nouns and adjectives, seldom - in forming verbs. Etymologically OE suffixes can be traced to several sources: old stem-suffixes, which had lost their productivity, but could still be distinguished in some words as dead or non-productive suffixes; derivational suffixes proper inherited from PIE and PG; new suffixes which developed from root-morphemes in Late PG and OE in the course of morphological simplification of the word. The old stem-suffixes cannot be regarded as means of derivation in OE. Their application in word derivation can be best shown in reconstructed, pre-written forms of weak verbs. Weak verbs of Class I were originally derived from nominal or verbal roots with the help of the stem-forming suffix -i/j-, e.g. tжl-i-an, mфt-i-an, OE tellan, mзtan - from the roots of OE talu, зe-mot; verbs of Class II were formed with the help of the most productive stem-suffix -ф-, or -фj-, e.g.: hop-ф-jan, luf-ф-jan, OE hopian, lufian from corresponding nouns hopa, lufu. Suffixes are usually classified according to the part of speech which they can form. In OE there were two large groups of suffixes: suffixes of nouns and suffixes of adjectives.

Noun suffixes are divided into suffixes of “agent nouns” (“nomina agentis”) and those of abstract nouns. Among the suffixes of “agent nouns” there were some dead, unproductive suffixes, e.g.: -a, as in the Masc. a-stem hunta; -end, originally the suffix of the Present Participle, e.g. OE fоend. Later it was replaced by -ere. OE agent nouns in -ere were derived from nouns and verbs: bфcere, fiscere. The nouns in -ere were Masc.; the corresponding suffix of Fem. nouns -estre was less common: spinnestre. Among suffixes of abstract nouns we can trace a productive suffix -nes/-nis: blindnis, beorhtnes. Another productive suffix, -ung/-ing, was used to build abstract nouns from verbs, e.g. earnian - earnung (NE earn, earning). A most important feature of OE suffixation is the growth of new suffixes from root-morphemes. To this group belong OE -dфm, -hвd, -lвc and some others, e.g. frзodфm (NE freedom), cоldhвd (NE childhood), wedlвc (NE wedlock). Adjectives were usually derived from nouns, rarely from verb stems or other adjectives. The most productive suffixes were -iз, an -isc, e.g. mфdiз `proud'(from mфd NE mood); mennisc `human' (from man with the root-vowel.

Native Words. Native OE words can be subdivided into a number of etymological layers coming From different historical periods. The three main layers in the native OE words are: a) Common IE words, 2) common Germanic words, 3) specifically OE words.Words belonging to the common IE layer constitute the oldest part of the OE Vocabulary. They go back to the days of the IE parent-language before the appearance Of the Germanic group. This layer embraced the following thematic groups:

1. The living world: Gods, people, animals;

2. Indo-European conceptions of wild animals and their names;

3. Animals of the Middle World;

4. Animals of the Upper World;

5. Animals of the Lower World;

6. Animals ritually close to man;

7. Animals ritually distant from humans;

8. Indo-European plant names;

9. Indo-European terms for heavenly bodies;

Geographical environment and climate;

Kinship terms;

The WO in the OE sentence was relatively free. The position of words in the sentence was often determined by logical and stylistic factors rather than by grammatical constraints.

- Direct WO; - Inverted WO; - Synthetic Wo.

The WO could depend on the communicative type of the sentence (? Vs. Statement);

On the type of clause; on the presence and place of some secondary parts of the sentence.Inverted WO was used for grammatical purposes in questions:. Full inversion with simple predicates. Partial inversion - with compound predicates (containing link-verbs and modal verbs)

Eart юu Esau, min sunu? (Are U Isau, my son?) Hы mihtest pu hit swв hrжdlice findan? (How could you find it so quickly?)

If the sentence began with an adverbial modifier,

the WO was usually inverted. Her on byssum geare fцr s? micla here - In this year went that big army.

Synthetic WO ("framing structure") is found in many subordinate and some coordinate clauses. The clause begins with the subject and ends with the predicate (or its final part). All the secondary parts are enclosed between them. Ohthere sжde his hlaforde, Жlfrede cyninge, южt he ealra Norрmonna norbmest bude. (Othere said to his lord, King Alfred, that he lived northernmost of all the Northmen (or Norwegians). But He cwжp южt he bude on pжm lande (He said that he lived in the land).It appears that in many respects the OE syntax was characterized by a wide range of variation and by the co-existence of various, even opposing tendencies. Complex sentences consist of 2 or more clauses conjoined. In OE, there are many types of complex sentence types: subject, object, attributive and adverbial clauses. The clauses were introduced by the following conjunctions: южt (that), 3if (if), etc.

He cwap bat he bude on pam lande (He said that he lived in the land).

Negation Negation in simple sentences (sentence negation) in OE is expressed by the preverbal adverb ne, which precedes the finite verb. Ac hie ne dorston южr on cuman (but they didn't dare enter there). Especially in WS, ne can be optionally attached to a small set of verbs. Wolde > nolde, willan > nillan

Habban > nabban = ne + habban wes (be) > nes, wit (knew) > nit

He nolde beon cyning

The negated verb is usually in the initial position of the main clause. The number of negative words in a sentence was not Limited.

E.g. nan man ne bude benorрan him (no man lived north of him)

The major differences between OE and PDE: Different WO patterns (SVO vs. SOV). In main clauses the verb is typically in non-final position, in subordinate clauses - in final position. There was no auxiliary verb DO in OE. Multiple Negation is frequent. A Grammatical Subject is not obligatory in OE. And him ржs sceamode (He was ashamed of that…).

OE Vocabulary (Words of CIE, CG Origin, loan-words). Native OE words can be subdivided into a number of layers:

1) WORDS OF COMMON INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGIN

The Common IE layer includes words which form the oldest part of the OE vocabulary. They go back to the days of the IE parent-language before its extension over the wide territories of Europe and Asia before the appearance of the Germanic group. They were inherited by PG and passed into the Germanic languages.

Among these words we find names of some natural phenomena: mere (sea), mфna (moon), niht (night) plants: treow (tree) animals: eolh (elk) agricultural terms: sawan (sow) parts of the human body: nжz! (nail), tunze (tongue), fцt (foot), heorte (heart) terms of kinship: broрor, mцdor, sunu. verbs that denote the basic activities of A man: dфn, beon, sittan, liczan, beran. adjectives that indicate the most essential Qualities: niwe, long, zeonz. personal and demonstrative pronouns and most numerals: twa, южt, min, ic..

2) WORDS OF COMMON GERMANIC ORIGIN

This layer includes words which are shared by most Germanic languages, do not occur outside the group. This layer is smaller than the layer of CIE words (1:2). CG words originated in the common period of Germanic history i.e. in PG when the Teutonic tribes lived close together. Semantically these words are connected with nature with the sea and everyday life (hand, sand, eorpe, singan, findan, grзne, macian, finger, cealf, land, earm).

3) SPECIFICALLY OE WORDS

Only for reading. This is an outdated form…

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This layer of native words can be defined as specifically OE, that is words which do not occur in other Germanic / Non-Germanic languages. These words are few… Clipian (to call), brid (bird), wimman, hlдford [hlaf + weard (keeper)], Hlдf + dize, dizan (to knead) > NE lady (bread-kneading)

LOAN WORDS

The OE vocabulary, like that of any other language, developed in two ways: - by forming new words from elements existing in the language; - by taking over words from other languages. OE borrowings come from 2 sources: Celtic and Latin.

CELTIC (mostly found in place-names) There are very few Celtic borrowings in the OE vocabulary for there must have been little intermixture between the Germanic settlers and the Celts in Britain.

The OE kingdoms (Kent, Deira, Bernicia) Derive their names of Celtic tribes. York, Downs, London have been traced to Celtic sources.Various Celtic designations of water and river were understood by Germanic tribes as proper names (Thames, Avon, Dover, Ouse).

2. Latin through Celtic Transmission (Latin Influence of the 1st Period). Britain was Romanized. There was no opportunity for direct contact between Latin and Old English in England, and Latin words could have found their way into English through Celtic transmission. The Celts, indeed, had adopted a considerable number of Latin words. Some place -names or components of place-names: Lat. Castra - OE caster, ceaster (camp): Chester, Lancaster Lat. Vicus (a village): Norwich, Woolwich

3. Latin Influence of the 2nd Period:The Christianizing of Britain. The greatest influence of Latin upon Old English was caused by the introduction of Christianity into Britain in the 6th c. Words connected with religion; words connected with learning. OE apostol (apostle), antefn (anthem), biscop (bishop), candel (candle), temple, psalm. The spread of education led to the wider use of Latin teaching was conducted in Latin: OE scol (school), OE scolere (scholar), OE mдgister (master).

LATIN

Latin words entered the English Language at different stages of OE history; chronologically they are divided into several layers:

1. Continental Borrowings (Latin Influence of the Zero Period). The first Latin words appeared

In the English language due to the early contact between the Romans and the Germanic tribes on the continent. Early borrowings from Latin indicate the new things and concepts, which the Teutons had learnt from the Romans.

This one is about the creation of the English language in the Old English period. The connection of the English language of the Old English period with modern words.

Bibliography

1. https://www.shareyouressays.com/knowledge/brief-notes-on-old-english-vocabulary/112652

2. https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Old_English/Word_Formation

3. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/historical-development-of-english-vocabulary-in-old-english-period

4. https://www.ranez.ru/article/id/688/

5. Brief Notes on “Old English Vocabulary” Shared by Perlle Alvares. 1999 in Europe.

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